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CJ unveils Cannes market lineup

Led by 'Mother,' 'Thirst,' co-pros and genre films

SEOUL--CJ Entertainment will lead its Cannes Film Market next month with "Mother" and "Thirst," two of the most anticipated South Korean films opening this year.

At Cannes from May 13-24, "Mother," director Bong Joon-ho’s ambitious follow up to "The Host" (2006), is the story of a widow trying to prove her son's innocence after he becomes a murder suspect.

In "Thirst," director Park Chan-wook adds the offbeat romance of his previous work "I’m a Cyborg, But That’s Okay," to the story of a small-town priest reborn as a vampire who has an affair with his friend's wife.

CJ also will take Korean genre films to Cannes, including "Private Eye," a period crime thriller about a physician secretly practicing his autopsy skills with a body he found in the woods, featuring Hwang Jung-min ("A Good Lawyer's Wife"). "Castaway on the Moon" (previously called "Kim’s Island"), directed by Lee Hey-Jun ("Like a Virgin"), is about a man who finds contentment on a deserted island and "Parallel Life," by Kwon Ho-young, is about a judge entangled in a murder case.

J.K. Youn's "Haeundae," a disaster movie that sold to 11 countries at the Hong Kong Filmart, also will go to Cannes.